Colorado ski town finally set to open slopes

At last. After an unbearably warm and dry November, a winter storm socked Telluride with the snowfall that skiers and businesses have been hoping for.

Pat Healy

At last. After an unbearably warm and dry November, a winter storm socked Telluride with the snowfall that skiers and businesses have been hoping for.

At least 5 inches fell in town, and the Telluride Ski Resort was reporting 11 inches Friday afternoon. With this snow, Telski said it now plans to open Nov. 30.

“This is a great kick-off to the season,” said Dave Riley, Telski's CEO, in a press release. “With Mother Nature helping out and the extensive mountain improvements, we’re looking forward to a great year.”

As usual, the mountain will open Lift 4 runs first, but no word yet on exactly which runs will be open for skiers. But the mountain will be offering discounts on lift tickets, and Gorrono Ranch and Crazy Elk Pizza will be dishing up food.

After four weeks of straight 50- and 60-degree days, temperatures plunged early this week as a cold front moved southeast from Canada, putting daytime highs in Telluride in the 30s and nighttime lows in the teens. This allowed the mountain to make more snow in three days than it had in the past three weeks.

And though skiers will still have to wait before they’re spiraling down the mountain, several were exulting online today, on a blog Riley keeps on the Telski Web site.

“Ohhhh yes praise the lord,” wrote Alyan Minshall.

“The next chance for a snowstorm is the middle of next week,” Riley wrote. “At this point, it looks pretty interesting and aggressive. We'll have to wait and see.”